Madrid urges Spain’s Constitutional Court to “immediately suspend” Catalonia’s Foreign Ministry for overstepping its powers

Barcelona claims that Romeva’s ministry is “in full accordance with the law”, adds that Rajoy’s administration is showing “obvious signs of decay”. Romeva: the Catalan government “has had and will continue to have a foreign policy”

Ara
3 min
El ministre de Justícia, Rafael Catalá, i la vicepresidenta del govern espanyol, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría / EFE

BarcelonaFollowing last Friday’s cabinet meeting, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría —Spain’s acting vice president— announced that the Spanish government has decided to challenge in the Constitutional Court the creation of Catalonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency, as she herself had anticipated two weeks earlier. After receiving a report by Spain’s Council of State, Madrid’s legal challenge in the Constitutional Court argues that, by creating such a ministry, the Catalan executive has overstepped its powers.

Catalonia’s Foreign Minister Raül Romeva was quick to rebuke the Spanish government for its decision and stated that the government of Catalonia “has had and will continue to have a foreign policy”. Romeva’s words to the media came after he rounded off a session held in Barcelona city, entitled Climate Futures: the Road after Paris. The Catalan minister asked everyone to “remain calm” in the face of Rajoy’s move because he feels that the actions of the government of Catalonia are well within the powers granted by the Spanish Constitution and the Catalan Statute. He also noted that “there is a democratic mandate to do so”. Neus Munté, the Catalan Minister for the Presidency, gave her assurances that Romeva’s ministry “is acting well within the law” and remarked that the Spanish government “has hit an all-time low and is showing obvious signs of decay”.

During her press conference —accompanied by Spain’s Justice Minister Rafael Catalá—, the Spanish vice president ratified what acting president Mariano Rajoy had already announced on Thursday: the PP government will file an appeal with the Constitutional Court so as to stop Catalonia’s Foreign Ministry in its tracks. Catalá claimed that, while the Generalitat has the power to organise its government, the Spanish State is solely responsible for foreign policy and, therefore, Catalonia’s Foreign Ministry is in violation of such exclusive powers.

What will be the consequences of this challenge? The minister explained that the appeal filed with the Constitutional Court includes an explicit request for the Catalan ministry to be suspended immediately, a prerogative of Spain’s central government whenever it resorts to the Constitutional Court. On this point, the Spanish minister stated that Romeva’s ministry will be “suspended immediately”, the minute that the challenge is formally acknowledged by the Court. Catalá added that the Catalan government “will require a reshuffle”, since the suspended ministry will “lose all legal grounds, and it will effectively cease to exist” as soon as the presidential order that created it is revoked. Catalá insisted that “otherwise, it might bring about consequences that would not abide by our legal system”.

Rajoy also announced that he has tasked his legal advisors with looking for any indication of unconstitutionality in the three draft bills tabled in the Catalan parliament, which stem from the breakaway declaration passed on November 9. Last Wednesday the two separatist groups in the Catalan parliament, Junts pel Sí and the CUP, began to process the draft bills by changing the names that they had been assigned originally in order to make a challenge from Madrid more difficult: the bill of Catalonia’s legal system, the social protection bill and the bill of tax administration.

Relationship with PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez

The Spanish vice president replied to PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez, who had criticised Mariano Rajoy earlier that day for not informing him about the legal challenge against the Catalan ministry. Sáenz de Santamaría claimed that, since plans to appeal against Romeva’s ministry were announced in an earlier cabinet meeting, Sánchez had not requested further information on the matter. His attitude, said the vice president, is in stark contrast with Albert Rivera’s, the Ciudadanos leader, who has shown a keen interest in the appeal from the very start.

“If Mr Sánchez would like any information, we will happily explain our decisions to him. We have announced publicly what we intend to do but, so far, he hasn’t shown any interest”, said Sáenz de Santamaría, who also rebuked the PSOE for not informing her party that they were going to help ERC and Democràcia i Llibertat —the two Catalan forces that support independence— to form their own groups in the Spanish Senate.

stats